What saw steel is this?

P

Pentlatch

Joined
Dec 28, 2000
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While dismantling an old barn I found in good shape several circular saw blades 22" diam x 1/8" thick, the teeth look to be brazed on , the center of the blade is cut to fit on a multi cogged 7" shaft. They are probably 30 years old or more.

Are they likely L6 steel?
 
A maker from Broome Western Australia uses a lot of old circular saw blade for knives. He is a using knife maker not so much a show knife maker. He tells me he gets a lot of good feed back from his customers about the edge holding of his blades. He uses an angle grinder to cut out pieces small enough to anneal before working.
His Name is Lionel FRAMPTON I am not sure if he has a site.

I have been told a lot of saw is L6 but you can't generalize it may be something else. I would be inclined to grind and heat treat a small piece and se how it goes.
 
Reg - Thanks for the info. I've made several using knives - a few from files, 7" wide band saw blade, spring steel from a chainsaw safety brake band (excellent steel by the way - use'm for small carving knives ) and tried the old power hacksaw blades which are very hard weird steel with no heat treat just slow grinding to get the bevel.

These big circular saw blades are a step up for me in the mysterious world of quality steel. I have several of them so there is enough for dozens of blades.

I like small knives for using , a 3" blade is a good size

The following link may be of some use to a starting knife maker

http://primitiveways.com/pt-knives-1.html
 
Wayne Goddard had given me a bunch of saw steel about a year ago. I asked if it was L-6 or 15N20. He said it was saw steel. Hope that answers your question......Ray
 
I used to assume all big circular saw blades were L6 but without contacting the manufacturer about the best you can hope to say, like Ray Richard and Wayne Goddard, is that it's "saw steel". They often make superb knives. My first knife was made from steel from an old circular blade (that had no carbide teeth) and it holds an edge better than knives I've made from O1 and from 1084. One exception, my third knife was made from 5160 that had been triple normalized-triple quenched-triple tempered and it also had excellent edge retention. I think i haven't hit the heat treat on the head yet for O1 and 1084, though I'm awful close with the 1084. Sorry for rambling!
 
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